Alert archive / New Mexico / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 63, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 6, 1997, 6:13 PM MDT for Lea County, New Mexico. It was in force for 62 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.
The facts
- Issued
- May 6, 1997, 6:13 PM MDT (00:13 UTC)
- Expired
- May 6, 1997, 7:15 PM MDT
- In force
- 62 min
- Issued by
- NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
- Area
- Whole counties
County Lea County, NM
The radar
The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 149 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:15 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.
Open the radar archive at this moment
The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 7:09 PM MDT | Tornado F1 | Hobbs, NM | A strong mesocyclone on the leading edge of the severe thunderstorm moving to the ESE produced a tornado on the southeast flank of the storm. This storm displayed some characteristics of an HP supercell, but with much of the forward flank missing.Damage range |
NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.
The watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 3:15 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 00:00Z, 0.2 hours before the alert went out and 147 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 384 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -365 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1828 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 43 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 853 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 1087 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KMAF 070015 RRA SVRMAF NMC025-070115- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX 713 PM CDT (613 PM MDT) TUE MAY 6 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 715 PM MDT (815 PM CDT) FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO ...SOUTHWESTERN AND SOUTH CENTRAL LEA COUNTY AT 611 PM MDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY MIDLAND DOPPLER RADAR 18 MILES SOUTHWEST OF HOBBS OR 9 MILES WEST OF EUNICE MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH. SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE... MONUMENT... EUNICE... NADINE AND JONES CITY. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN8 ITS PATH YOU SHOULD PREPARE FOR DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...LARGE HAIL...AND DEADLY LIGHTNING. PEOPLE OUTSIDE SHOULD MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY...PREFERABLY INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING BUT STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS. TAH/TJT
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 6, 1:56 PM MDT, 4 hours 17 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 6, 1:56 PM MDT, 4 hours 17 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX 254 PM CDT TUE MAY 6 1997 A LOOK AT SATELLITE REVEALS LOW CLOUDS VERY SLOWLY DISSIPATING OVER FA SE ZONES...WHILE ACCAS DVLP OVER SE NM AND NRN FA AHEAD OF APPROACHING SHORTWAVE TROUGH...A GOOD SIGN OF HIGH LAPSE RATES ALOFT. BOUNDARY LAYER NOT TAPPED YET...AS LATEST ADAP AND SOUNDING MODIFICATION SHOW A 4-5C CAP STILL IN PLACE OVER MUCH OF FA...THANKS TO MOIST UPSLOPE FLOW HOLDING DOWN TEMPS. UPSLOPE FLOW AND DIFFERENTIAL HEATING HAS ALLOWED SOME STORMS TO DEVELOP OVER HIER TERRAIN OF DAVIS MOUNTAINS ATTM. AS NOTED IN SWOMCD...THESE STORMS COULD BECOME SVR IF THEY TAP INTO VERY UNSTABLE BLYR AIR TO EAST. BROAD UPPER RIDGING SHOULD KEEP SHORTWAVE ENERGY N OF FA...SO EXPECT WIDELY SCT CONVECTION CONFINED TO VCNTY AND JUST E OF MTNS (SEE SWODY1). WILL SHOTGUN SLIGHT CHANCE POPS THESE AREAS FOR THIS EVE... AND EXPECT PRECIP TO RAPIDLY DISSIPATE AROUND SUNSET WITH LOSS OF INSOLATION. AFTER DARK...EXPECT MILD TEMPERATURES...WITH LOW CLOUDS OVER MOST OF EASTERN ZONES AS DEVELOPING LOW LEVEL JET ADVECTS MORE MOISTURE INTO AREA. DEEPENING LEE TROUGH NEAR TX/NM BORDER SHOULD ENSURE CONTINUED MOIST SOUTHEAST SFC FLOW EAST OF MOUNTAINS. BROAD UPPER RIDGE OVER W-CENT USA TO FLATTEN SOMEWHAT WED AS STRONG SHORTWAVE TROUGH TRACKS E ACROSS NRN PLAINS. LEE TROUGHING TO CONTINUE ALONG TX/NM BORDER BENEATH THIS ZONAL FLOW...RESULTING IN IMPRESSIVE THICKNESS IN WRN ZONES INVOF SFC TROUGH AND ABOVE NORMAL TEMPS AS SFC WINDS BECOME W-SW BEHIND LEE TROUGH. AS IS THE CASE TODAY...EXPECT SLIGHT POPS WED EVENING WITH ALMOST ZERO POPS DURING DAY. COORDINATED WITH LBB. MAF 64/88 1/- CNM 60/92 2/- MRF 51/87 2/- P07b 67/90 -/- TJT
The office that day
Everything else NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 6:04 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | MAF | Lea | 31 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in New Mexico, 1997Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1997
Sources
The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.